Trump showed classified map to passengers on his plane in 2022, memo says
President Donald Trump showed a classified map he retained from his first term in office to passengers on a 2022 private plane flight and retained another record so sensitive that only six high-ranking government officials had access to it, according to a prosecution memo released to Congress this week.
The Justice Department shared those findings, detailed in a January 2023 briefing document written by then-special counsel Jack Smiths team, with lawmakers as they conduct a review of Smiths now-abandoned efforts to prosecute Trump.
The memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, was penned as investigators moved toward indicting Trump on charges of illegally retaining sensitive government material after he left the White House. It offers a snapshot of an early moment in Smiths investigation and adds new shading to the public understanding of Smiths probes, even as a final report on his findings remains under court seal.
The memo, for instance, reveals that Smiths team gathered at least some evidence to suggest that Trump had retained classified material pertinent to his personal business interests and that prosecutors were investigating whether his decision to hold on to those records was motivated by financial gain.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/25/trump-classified-map-private-plane/